A Mechanically Configurable Microstrip Patch Antenna for IEEE 802.11 WLAN Band

We present a new design for a frequency configurable microstrip patch antenna. The tuning mechanism consists of placing shorting posts placed in pre-drilled holes between the patch and ground plane at set locations on the patch. The hole locations are arranged so that the insertion of shorting pins in certain holes result in a predetermined resonant frequency. A frequency tunable microstrip patch operating over an 870 MHz bandwidth at the 5 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) band is presented.